Hyderabd: The Telangana High Court has issued a significant ruling regarding the disqualification petitions against three Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) who defected to the Congress party.
Justice B Vijaysen Reddy directed the Speaker of the Telangana Legislative Assembly to establish a schedule for hearing these petitions within four weeks, emphasizing the need for timely action in such matters.
The disqualification petitions were filed against MLAs Danam Nagender, Kadiyam Srihari, and Tellam Venkata Rao, who were elected on BRS tickets in the 2023 Assembly elections but later joined the Congress party.
The petitions were initiated by BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy and BJP MLA Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, who sought to disqualify these MLAs based on their party-switching actions, which are governed by the anti-defection law under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Court’s directive
In response to the petitions, the High Court instructed the Secretary of the Telangana Legislative Assembly to present these cases to the Speaker for scheduling hearings.
The court made it clear that if no action was taken within four weeks, it would reopen the matter and issue further orders.
This ruling aligns with previous Supreme Court decisions that allow judicial review of a Speaker’s inaction regarding disqualification petitions, reinforcing that such matters should not be indefinitely delayed.
Justice Reddy highlighted that any significant delay in addressing disqualification petitions could undermine democratic principles and potentially facilitate further defections from political parties.
